One of the enduring myths among modern critics of Christianity is that there isn’t anything truly new in it. The Christian religion is a mere miscellany of moral teachings dressed up in tall tales borrowed from the common stock of the world’s religions.   As we draw near to Advent, we’ll likely hear that the idea of a virgin giving birth to a special son is at once not essential to the Christian message and not original to it, either. On the first count, we’ll be told that only (!) two of the...